Chinese Garden Lantern Safari (Rated M18 for Violence)

Went to the Chinese Garden Lantern Safari last week. Ever since the birth of my daughter, my wife and I have become good friends with all the tourist attractions in Singapore, e.g. Jurong Bird Park, Zoo, Sentosa, and yea, the Chinese Garden. I found out that it was the same with my friends as well – they only started visiting these touristy places after they had kids. No wonder the government is encouraging people to have more children. "Have more kids! These places of attraction need your support!"

The visit to the Lantern Safari was really quite enjoyable. The setup was pretty decent (prefer last year’s Disney theme though), it was not too crowded and there was a nice festivity in the air with all the families and kids running around with lanterns.

However, was very surprised by the fact that some of the displays were actually rather gruesome: fearsome lions mauling decapitated zebras with their bloody teeth and claws, a crocodile about to clamp down on a deer’s feet, etc. It almost seemed that whoever did the displays had too much red paint on their hands. See the photos here:

A woolly mammoth being attacked by Neandertals!

One poor zebra being pinned by a snarling leopard

This is where it gets really gruesome!

Looking equally gruesome at night!

Actually, there were a lot more but I decided to stop taking photos of all the blood and gore after my wife starting giving me strange looks.

Personally, I don’t really mind the rather graphic displays – it made the whole thing more interesting and lively. Jaslyn was however rather disconcerted with some of them and I had to reassure her by telling her that the lions were just playing with the zebra (yeah, even the one with the half-eaten body).

Anyway, here are the rest of the tamer, more child-friendly photos: